Sounds like he was trying to cut it's throat to finish it off. Just shoot it again. It ain't worth it. I remember about 20 years ago I was with my fil and his buddy who owned an orchard. He got a crop damage permit from the state and we were shooting deer in his orchard about 11 O'clock at night. Legally with the permit just so you know. My father-in-law's buddy dropped a big 10 pointer in his tracks but it was a spine shot. My fil says to him "I'll grab his horns and you cut his throat" so they approach the buck and my fil grabs him by the antlers so his buddy can finish him off and the buck, in one fell swoop, flung his head and threw my fil about eight feet through the air. This was a deer that had a broken back and couldn't use it's back legs. My fil weighed about 260 at the time. Deer are very powerful animals and are nothing to be messed with.
good reminder....in case anyone here hasn't tried it....a deer's carotid arteries and jugular veins are deeper than you think.
you have to cut very deep to the spine on the sides of the neck to hit them....sawing at the front of the throat...even to the spine....will likely only cut the trachea and esophagus which will kill them but slowly and you're gonna sit and hear and see it pull air through the hole in its throat and suffer
it isn't worth the effort
i have in the past, but will now avoid, just walked up and stabbed the deer around 6 times in the heart and backed off....it's quicker and easier and can be done without getting as close and maintaining a more defensive posture....but it's also not worth it
yeah, just shoot it again from 10 yards and make it a good shot, then wait....at close range your 20 yard pin will hit low because the arrow hasn't risen sufficiently yet